explained as from haver, to talk foolishly, itself of unknown origin.
Jigot, Fr. gigot, leg of mutton.
Jambs, sides of a fire-place; Fr. jambe, a leg.
Pace, paiss, peise=weights of a clock; Fr. peser, to weigh—regularly used in the seventeenth century, long obsolete.
Parish, Fr. paroisse. Mediæval English as well as Scotch.
Pend, and paund; Fr. pendre, to hang; an archway, a hanging round a bed, a valance.
Petticoat-tails, species of shortbread; as if from petits-gatelles (Fr. gâteau, a cake). See Meg Dods's "cookery" in "St. Ronan's Well."
Popinjay, Fr. papegai, the parrot. See "Old Mortality."
Puppie—"A preen to see the puppie-show," children's play; a puppet show; Fr. poupée, a doll.
Sklate, slate; Fr. éclater, to fly into fragments.
Spaul, the shoulder; Fr. épaule; Lat. spatula.
Sybows, a species of onion, young onions; Fr. ciboule; Lat. cepula, cepa, an onion.
Joist, a beam. "When the building is first joist heigh" ("Glas. Records," 1696); M.Eng. gyste, jist; O.Fr. gîste, place to lie on (Cotgrave); M.Fr. gîte, lodging, etymologically a support for the floor. Scots distinguishes joist (jaste), just (jüste), juice (jice).
Toolye, tuilzie, a broil, quarrel; Fr. touiller, to mix confusedly.
Turner, a coin once very common in Scotland=2d. Sc.=a bodle; Fr. tournois, because coined at Tours.
Tureen, a soup basin; Fr. terrine, an earthen pan; Lat. terra, earth.
Treviss (common in Scots and in Chaucer), division between stalls in a stable; O.Fr. tref; Lat. trabs, a beam.
Tweel—"Row weel the bonnie tweel, row weel the plaidie;" Fr. toile, cloth.
Scoto-French in Burns's Poems.
Burns was proud enough of his French to air it in his correspondence, but the words he blends with his native vernacular must represent the popular absorption of centuries.
